The first time the Life Or Death Ring opened was a very long ago back when Darkness Port had just been founded.
The duo who started the first Life Or Death battle were the founders of the city. Later in the naval warfare, the current mysterious Island Master had seized victory by slashing the opponent.
The second time it was opened was over 90 years ago. The duo who started the second Life Or Death battle were two of the top 10 legends in the Purple Moon era. 108 quincuncial piles had been erected on the sea under the moon, and the victor had won by a palm’s advantage, striking the loser off the pile.
After that, the victor of the second Life Or Death battle became the first man who founded a safety city single-handedly.
As for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth battles, every participant had been a famous figure in the Purple Moon era.
The latest Life Or Death battle had been held 19 years ago and had been a battle between the Dragon Army and the Stardust Council.
The leader of the Dragon Generals, who was the strongest under Tang Feng, the mysterious Long Shuai had gone up against Galaxy, the strongest under the president of the Stardust Council.
The two of them had decided to duel in the sky. They had each led 18 other generals on their flying mounts and fought in the sky.
That day had been a day when the sky had rained blood. It had been a bloody memory for many in Darkness Port who witnessed that battle. Describing that battle as fierce and bloody was only appropriate.
Blood and flesh had splashed in the sky, causing crimson rain to drizzle all over the place.
Lastly, Long Shuai had used his unique weapon, the Dragon Chasing Spear, to pierce Galaxy’s heart, killing him in the air.
After Long Shuai had won the battle, he and eight other generals had concealed their names and disappeared from the public eye. No one knew where they had gone.
Therefore, only the most reputable could initiate the Life Or Death Ring!
Tang Long, who was acknowledged as the strongest among the bunch of young geniuses, was considered qualified to start the Life Or Death Ring. However, if his opponent did not agree to participate, he would have to pay a hefty cost to force start the Life Or Death Ring from his side.
Then, Darkness Port would mobilize all its resources and manpower to locate the opponent and force him to join. It was tyrannical of Darkness Port, but it was the only place where it could be domineering and show off its strength.
Of course, if Tang Long’s targeted opponent was some John Doe, no matter how famous Tang Long was or how big of a cost he had to pay, Darkness Port would never agree to start the Life Or Death Ring as doing so would only taint the holiness of the legendary battle.
Fortunately, Tang Ling was qualified to accept the terms of the Life Or Death Ring! He was also somewhat of a legendary teen himself. Even if he was not the son of Tang Fang, what he did was spectacular enough. Therefore, the people had high expectations for this Life Or Death Ring.
Tang Long and Tang Ling lived up to the holiness of the Life Or Death Ring. They even added a total of 70-odd young geniuses in their game. What else was more exciting than this?
Yes, it was 70 or so because Tang Long and Tang Ling both had people they wanted to specifically add to the game.
As for who Tang Long would give the slots to, Tang Ling had no idea because every one of the Stardust Sixteen was qualified to join.
Without a doubt, Tang Ling reserved slots for Ro Xin, Ro Li, and Han Xing.
The stage was already crowded enough and the atmosphere was at its boiling point.
Tang Long changed into a new set of attire and arrived on stage.
Due to the rules, when reading the rules of the Life Or Death Ring on stage, one must dress properly to show respect for the holiness of the ritual. Even though he still wore white, this uniform looked grander and even more glorious.
On the back of his uniform was the entire Milky Way sewn on it, glimmering in bright silver. Shoulder straps were sewn into the shape of comets on his shoulders and there were topaz and rubies embedded in it.
The buttons on his uniform were like shining stars. Meanwhile, his sleeves were covered with beautiful stripes that represented an abstract display of stars. His erected collar was silver and there was a Stardust medal hanging over the placket. Across his chest were three prominent medals made from shining gemstones.
It was the highest ranking uniform of the Stardust Council. Commoners could never measure up to the grandness and elegance of the uniform. As for Tang Long, when he walked on stage with it, he looked like a real prince that was high above everyone else.
Screams burst from beneath the stage.
Tang Ling had yet to appear. He was covered in black threads while trying to put on a black uniform. He had been told that the uniform was from Boss Huang’s own collection, but Boss Huang had not given him the uniform since he claimed that doing so would ruin his reputation.
Therefore, Boss Huang had lent it to Ro Xin at a rental price of 1 Black Wind coin and told her that she could lend it to whomsoever she seemed fit.
Ro Xin was speechless. Se did not know why Boss Huang loved doing things undercover. It was really hard to understand, but she still gave the uniform to Tang Ling.
It could not be helped since it was the rule that Darkness Port set and Tang Ling had no nice-looking clothes. He could not just wear his usual clothes and stand side by side Tang Long on the stage, could he? It would be an insult to Darkness Port.
Tang Ling was covered in black threads because firstly, Boss Huang wanted to stay undercover. Secondly, wearing the uniform was very troublesome. In fact, it was a lot more troublesome than the uniform in Safety Sector No. 17.
Tang Long did not wait for long until Tang Ling appeared on stage.
As though Tang Ling was trying to match Tang Long, he wore a black uniform and the ruby at his collar was shaped like a floating cloud.
The ancient Huaxia style was coupled with handmade buckles made from silk with a slightly brighter color than the base uniform. The buckles were lined up neatly on both sides of the lapels.
The silk material had a natural luminescent effect, so it shone like obsidian. Those who knew the material would know that the silk was actually from a mutated six-winged icy cloud silkworm of the snowy lands called the six-winged dark cloud silkworm.
The six-winged icy cloud silkworm was a level 5 vicious beast. It was a tough opponent and was very rare to encounter, let alone the mutated version, the dark cloud silkworm.
At his waist, a ribbon that shared the same color as his collar was tied. Flanking both sides of the ribbon were two delicate top-quality nephrite jade buttons, which was also known as mutton fat jade in the old civilization. Legend had it that in a certain dynasty of the old civilization, mutton fat jade was already a rare nephrite on the market.
Tang Ling’s black uniform was as grand as Tang Long’s white one. In truth, the materials used on the black uniform were even more precious than ones on the white.
When he appeared on stage, screams ensued.
The two of them, in contrasting black and white uniforms, stood side by side in front of the rostrum with the mic.
Tang Long was 185 cm tall. Tang Ling was shorter, probably due to malnutrition, so he was considered a shorty among his peers. However, after that ominous night, Tang Ling’s heart had suddenly surged and he was now a little shy of 180 cm.
When the two of them stood side by side, Tang Ling did not look like he was shorter than Tang Long because his aura was as strong. They resembled Gemini stars.
It was difficult to imagine why the two of them wanted to fight each other to the death. A lot of people beneath the stage shared the same pitiful feeling.
It was also difficult to imagine that if it not these two, who else would be qualified to stand beside either one of them and could be as outstanding as they were? It seemed like only they themselves were qualified to rival each other.
A mixture of cheers, discussion, and silence came from the people with different emotions beneath the stage.
The two of them spoke.
“I, Tang Long.”
“I, Tang Ling.”
“Officially sign the life or death pact today and here I am reading the rules of life or death. After the rules are read, the Life Or Death Stage will open, and only either life or death will bring peace to my heart.”
The two of them read the declaration that must be delivered before the reading of the rules and they spoke in an unusual tacit understanding.
After the declaration, Tang Long took the initiation and read the rules while Tang Ling added on from the side.
The rules of Life Or Death Ring had been simplified after some revision. The location of the Life Or Death battle would be held on Hell Ledge of Darkness Port.
Hell Ledge was a place of trials where challengers would have to go through multiple levels in order to clear the challenge.
With the start of the Life Or Death Ring, a large stone tablet would be erected in front of the entrance of Hell Ledge by the Darkness Port authorities. The ranking on the stone tablet would change every day.
The rules of the ranking were a lot simpler: the rating of the challenge would determine the ranking.
“The difficulty of the challenges will differ,” said Tang Long.
Tang Ling added, “There will be a rating system for each challenge. The lowest rating of rank D will have 1 point, rank C will have 2 points, rank B, 3 points, rank A, 5 points, rank S, 7 points, rank SS, 9 points and rank SSS, 12 points.”
“The challenge is also separated by levels. It is widely known that three levels on Hell Ledge are considered as a single difficulty. Therefore, with every three levels cleared, 20 points will be added,” Tang Long continued.
One must give it up for the fairness of the rules. While Tang Long and Tang Ling worked together perfectly to deliver the rules, everyone understood how the rules worked. The rules completely shut off the possibility of someone trying to exploit the system. It was decided by all the geniuses after all. They would never give their opponent the chance to exploit any loopholes.
“The rating system determines the level of accessibility.”
After they were done explaining the rules, Tang Long continued on to the important topic of access.
No matter how many levels or how many challenges were cleared in the end, the ranking would be divided into five sections.
The first and second would be in the first section. These two would have the right to form a fleet and select 10 geniuses as part of their crew. The selected geniuses could not decline the offer. The only limitation was that those in the first and second place could not select each other as crew members.
The second section would be those in the third to the tenth place. The second section would also be given the right to form their own fleets and select five crew members whereby the selected geniuses could not decline the offer.
However, there were two limitations in section two.
Firstly, geniuses in section two could not select another genius in the same section as a crew member. Secondly, geniuses in section two would only have the right to form a fleet and select crew members when he or she had not been chosen by section one.
Should anyone in section two give up the right to form a fleet, he or she could also join any other fleet freely. The selected fleet (only limited to the fleets formed by a young genius) could not stop him or her from joining.
The third section would be those from the 11th to the 30th place.
Section three had no right to form their own fleet but could select one from section four as a follower to sail together with them.
If anyone in section three was not selected to join a fleet, he or she would have the choice to join any other fleet, including but not limited to fleets formed by young geniuses such as the fleet organized by some major factions of the city. However, the fleets of young geniuses could stop those from section four from joining.
The fourth section would be those from the 31st to the 60th place.
Section four had no rights at all. He or she could only wait to be selected as a sailor or an aide. Anyone lucky enough not to be selected by other geniuses from higher sections would have the option of joining other fleets. The rules as per section three would apply.
The fifth section would be those below the 60th place.
Not only did section five not have rights at all, but they would also be punished. The punishment would be to select someone from the first place to the 60th place to be his or her master. Then, they had to follow their master for two years through thick and thin.
Once the rules were all read, the crowd burst into excitement.
One had to admit that the young geniuses did not hold back on the rules. The rules were not exactly fair because section one would have a huge advantage to either form a fleet or recruit an entire crew whereas the last section would have to be severely punished.
As for section two, they would be considered unlucky because even though they had the right to become their own captains, they would be mostly selected as crew members by section one.
However, the young geniuses did not mind because the mistake by a millimeter would result in the loss in kilometers. If one did not reach the top, one would have to endure humiliation and insult silently.
The rules also contained a tinge of selfishness.
The strongest should combine with the strongest! Who cared about being the captain or a crew member?
If they were to form a fleet, they ought to form the strongest fleet of them all!
COMMENT
That was the goal and insight of the young geniuses!
The first time the Life Or Death Ring opened was a very long ago back when Darkness Port had just been founded.
The duo who started the first Life Or Death battle were the founders of the city. Later in the naval warfare, the current mysterious Island Master had seized victory by slashing the opponent.
The second time it was opened was over 90 years ago. The duo who started the second Life Or Death battle were two of the top 10 legends in the Purple Moon era. 108 quincuncial piles had been erected on the sea under the moon, and the victor had won by a palm’s advantage, striking the loser off the pile.
After that, the victor of the second Life Or Death battle became the first man who founded a safety city single-handedly.
As for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth battles, every participant had been a famous figure in the Purple Moon era.
The latest Life Or Death battle had been held 19 years ago and had been a battle between the Dragon Army and the Stardust Council.
The leader of the Dragon Generals, who was the strongest under Tang Feng, the mysterious Long Shuai had gone up against Galaxy, the strongest under the president of the Stardust Council.
The two of them had decided to duel in the sky. They had each led 18 other generals on their flying mounts and fought in the sky.
That day had been a day when the sky had rained blood. It had been a bloody memory for many in Darkness Port who witnessed that battle. Describing that battle as fierce and bloody was only appropriate.
Blood and flesh had splashed in the sky, causing crimson rain to drizzle all over the place.
Lastly, Long Shuai had used his unique weapon, the Dragon Chasing Spear, to pierce Galaxy’s heart, killing him in the air.
After Long Shuai had won the battle, he and eight other generals had concealed their names and disappeared from the public eye. No one knew where they had gone.
Therefore, only the most reputable could initiate the Life Or Death Ring!
Tang Long, who was acknowledged as the strongest among the bunch of young geniuses, was considered qualified to start the Life Or Death Ring. However, if his opponent did not agree to participate, he would have to pay a hefty cost to force start the Life Or Death Ring from his side.
Then, Darkness Port would mobilize all its resources and manpower to locate the opponent and force him to join. It was tyrannical of Darkness Port, but it was the only place where it could be domineering and show off its strength.
Of course, if Tang Long’s targeted opponent was some John Doe, no matter how famous Tang Long was or how big of a cost he had to pay, Darkness Port would never agree to start the Life Or Death Ring as doing so would only taint the holiness of the legendary battle.
Fortunately, Tang Ling was qualified to accept the terms of the Life Or Death Ring! He was also somewhat of a legendary teen himself. Even if he was not the son of Tang Fang, what he did was spectacular enough. Therefore, the people had high expectations for this Life Or Death Ring.
Tang Long and Tang Ling lived up to the holiness of the Life Or Death Ring. They even added a total of 70-odd young geniuses in their game. What else was more exciting than this?
Yes, it was 70 or so because Tang Long and Tang Ling both had people they wanted to specifically add to the game.
As for who Tang Long would give the slots to, Tang Ling had no idea because every one of the Stardust Sixteen was qualified to join.
Without a doubt, Tang Ling reserved slots for Ro Xin, Ro Li, and Han Xing.
The stage was already crowded enough and the atmosphere was at its boiling point.
Tang Long changed into a new set of attire and arrived on stage.
Due to the rules, when reading the rules of the Life Or Death Ring on stage, one must dress properly to show respect for the holiness of the ritual. Even though he still wore white, this uniform looked grander and even more glorious.
On the back of his uniform was the entire Milky Way sewn on it, glimmering in bright silver. Shoulder straps were sewn into the shape of comets on his shoulders and there were topaz and rubies embedded in it.
The buttons on his uniform were like shining stars. Meanwhile, his sleeves were covered with beautiful stripes that represented an abstract display of stars. His erected collar was silver and there was a Stardust medal hanging over the placket. Across his chest were three prominent medals made from shining gemstones.
It was the highest ranking uniform of the Stardust Council. Commoners could never measure up to the grandness and elegance of the uniform. As for Tang Long, when he walked on stage with it, he looked like a real prince that was high above everyone else.
Screams burst from beneath the stage.
Tang Ling had yet to appear. He was covered in black threads while trying to put on a black uniform. He had been told that the uniform was from Boss Huang’s own collection, but Boss Huang had not given him the uniform since he claimed that doing so would ruin his reputation.
Therefore, Boss Huang had lent it to Ro Xin at a rental price of 1 Black Wind coin and told her that she could lend it to whomsoever she seemed fit.
Ro Xin was speechless. Se did not know why Boss Huang loved doing things undercover. It was really hard to understand, but she still gave the uniform to Tang Ling.
It could not be helped since it was the rule that Darkness Port set and Tang Ling had no nice-looking clothes. He could not just wear his usual clothes and stand side by side Tang Long on the stage, could he? It would be an insult to Darkness Port.
Tang Ling was covered in black threads because firstly, Boss Huang wanted to stay undercover. Secondly, wearing the uniform was very troublesome. In fact, it was a lot more troublesome than the uniform in Safety Sector No. 17.
Tang Long did not wait for long until Tang Ling appeared on stage.
As though Tang Ling was trying to match Tang Long, he wore a black uniform and the ruby at his collar was shaped like a floating cloud.
The ancient Huaxia style was coupled with handmade buckles made from silk with a slightly brighter color than the base uniform. The buckles were lined up neatly on both sides of the lapels.
The silk material had a natural luminescent effect, so it shone like obsidian. Those who knew the material would know that the silk was actually from a mutated six-winged icy cloud silkworm of the snowy lands called the six-winged dark cloud silkworm.
The six-winged icy cloud silkworm was a level 5 vicious beast. It was a tough opponent and was very rare to encounter, let alone the mutated version, the dark cloud silkworm.
At his waist, a ribbon that shared the same color as his collar was tied. Flanking both sides of the ribbon were two delicate top-quality nephrite jade buttons, which was also known as mutton fat jade in the old civilization. Legend had it that in a certain dynasty of the old civilization, mutton fat jade was already a rare nephrite on the market.
Tang Ling’s black uniform was as grand as Tang Long’s white one. In truth, the materials used on the black uniform were even more precious than ones on the white.
When he appeared on stage, screams ensued.
The two of them, in contrasting black and white uniforms, stood side by side in front of the rostrum with the mic.
Tang Long was 185 cm tall. Tang Ling was shorter, probably due to malnutrition, so he was considered a shorty among his peers. However, after that ominous night, Tang Ling’s heart had suddenly surged and he was now a little shy of 180 cm.
When the two of them stood side by side, Tang Ling did not look like he was shorter than Tang Long because his aura was as strong. They resembled Gemini stars.
It was difficult to imagine why the two of them wanted to fight each other to the death. A lot of people beneath the stage shared the same pitiful feeling.
It was also difficult to imagine that if it not these two, who else would be qualified to stand beside either one of them and could be as outstanding as they were? It seemed like only they themselves were qualified to rival each other.
A mixture of cheers, discussion, and silence came from the people with different emotions beneath the stage.
The two of them spoke.
“I, Tang Long.”
“I, Tang Ling.”
“Officially sign the life or death pact today and here I am reading the rules of life or death. After the rules are read, the Life Or Death Stage will open, and only either life or death will bring peace to my heart.”
The two of them read the declaration that must be delivered before the reading of the rules and they spoke in an unusual tacit understanding.
After the declaration, Tang Long took the initiation and read the rules while Tang Ling added on from the side.
The rules of Life Or Death Ring had been simplified after some revision. The location of the Life Or Death battle would be held on Hell Ledge of Darkness Port.
Hell Ledge was a place of trials where challengers would have to go through multiple levels in order to clear the challenge.
With the start of the Life Or Death Ring, a large stone tablet would be erected in front of the entrance of Hell Ledge by the Darkness Port authorities. The ranking on the stone tablet would change every day.
The rules of the ranking were a lot simpler: the rating of the challenge would determine the ranking.
“The difficulty of the challenges will differ,” said Tang Long.
Tang Ling added, “There will be a rating system for each challenge. The lowest rating of rank D will have 1 point, rank C will have 2 points, rank B, 3 points, rank A, 5 points, rank S, 7 points, rank SS, 9 points and rank SSS, 12 points.”
“The challenge is also separated by levels. It is widely known that three levels on Hell Ledge are considered as a single difficulty. Therefore, with every three levels cleared, 20 points will be added,” Tang Long continued.
One must give it up for the fairness of the rules. While Tang Long and Tang Ling worked together perfectly to deliver the rules, everyone understood how the rules worked. The rules completely shut off the possibility of someone trying to exploit the system. It was decided by all the geniuses after all. They would never give their opponent the chance to exploit any loopholes.
“The rating system determines the level of accessibility.”
After they were done explaining the rules, Tang Long continued on to the important topic of access.
No matter how many levels or how many challenges were cleared in the end, the ranking would be divided into five sections.
The first and second would be in the first section. These two would have the right to form a fleet and select 10 geniuses as part of their crew. The selected geniuses could not decline the offer. The only limitation was that those in the first and second place could not select each other as crew members.
The second section would be those in the third to the tenth place. The second section would also be given the right to form their own fleets and select five crew members whereby the selected geniuses could not decline the offer.
However, there were two limitations in section two.
Firstly, geniuses in section two could not select another genius in the same section as a crew member. Secondly, geniuses in section two would only have the right to form a fleet and select crew members when he or she had not been chosen by section one.
Should anyone in section two give up the right to form a fleet, he or she could also join any other fleet freely. The selected fleet (only limited to the fleets formed by a young genius) could not stop him or her from joining.
The third section would be those from the 11th to the 30th place.
Section three had no right to form their own fleet but could select one from section four as a follower to sail together with them.
If anyone in section three was not selected to join a fleet, he or she would have the choice to join any other fleet, including but not limited to fleets formed by young geniuses such as the fleet organized by some major factions of the city. However, the fleets of young geniuses could stop those from section four from joining.
The fourth section would be those from the 31st to the 60th place.
Section four had no rights at all. He or she could only wait to be selected as a sailor or an aide. Anyone lucky enough not to be selected by other geniuses from higher sections would have the option of joining other fleets. The rules as per section three would apply.
The fifth section would be those below the 60th place.
Not only did section five not have rights at all, but they would also be punished. The punishment would be to select someone from the first place to the 60th place to be his or her master. Then, they had to follow their master for two years through thick and thin.
Once the rules were all read, the crowd burst into excitement.
One had to admit that the young geniuses did not hold back on the rules. The rules were not exactly fair because section one would have a huge advantage to either form a fleet or recruit an entire crew whereas the last section would have to be severely punished.
As for section two, they would be considered unlucky because even though they had the right to become their own captains, they would be mostly selected as crew members by section one.
However, the young geniuses did not mind because the mistake by a millimeter would result in the loss in kilometers. If one did not reach the top, one would have to endure humiliation and insult silently.
The rules also contained a tinge of selfishness.
The strongest should combine with the strongest! Who cared about being the captain or a crew member?
If they were to form a fleet, they ought to form the strongest fleet of them all!
COMMENT
That was the goal and insight of the young geniuses!
